Mighty Mikko Part 11

He drank bottle after bottle of the strong waters until he had emptied six.

"Now I am ready!" he shouted.

He mounted his mighty horse and as he rode off he called to his comrades:

"If I need help I'll throw back a shoe and do you then unleash my dog!"

He rode to the rock on the sh.o.r.e and dismounted. Then he climbed the rock and released the second princess. He told her who he was and as they awaited the arrival of the Six-Headed Serpent he lay at the princess' feet and she scratched his head.

This time the Serpent came in six mighty swirls with six awful heads that reared up one after another. In terror the second princess hid behind the rock while Six Bottles, mounting his horse, rode boldly down to the water's edge.

Like his brother Serpent this one, too, came sniffing the air hungrily, muttering the magic rime he had learned from his mother, wicked Suyettar:

"Fee, fi, fo, fum!

I smell a Finn! Yum! Yum!

I'll fall upon him with a thud!

I'll pick his bones and drink his blood!

Fee, fi, fo, fum!

Yum! Yum!"

"Stop boasting, son of an evil mother!" Six Bottles cried. "You will have time enough to boast after you fight!"

"Fight?" repeated the Serpent scornfully. "Shall we fight, little one, you and I? Very well! Blow then with your sweet breath, blow out a long level platform of white silver whereon we can meet and try our strength one with the other."

"Nay!" answered Six Bottles. "Do you blow, blow with your evil breath, and instead of white silver we shall have a platform of red copper."

So the Serpent blew and on the copper platform that came of his breath Six Bottles met him in combat. Back and forth they raged, Six Bottles striking left and right with his mighty sword, the Serpent hitting at Six Bottles with every one of his six scaly heads and belching forth fire and smoke from all his mouths. Six Bottles whacked off one head, then another, then another. At last he had disposed of five heads. He tried hard to strike the last, but by this time the Serpent had grown wary and Six Bottles' own strength was waning. So he reached down and took one of his shoes and threw it over his shoulder back to his comrades who were awaiting the outcome of the struggle.

Instantly they loosed the dog which bounded forward to its master's a.s.sistance and soon with the dog's help Six Bottles was able to dispatch the last head.

Then his comrades led him, weary from the fight, to the old woman's hut and soon he fell asleep.

While he slept the Moon appeared in the sky and a great cry of relief and thanksgiving went up from all the world:

"The Moon! The Moon! G.o.d bless the man who has released the Moon!"

The King who was awakened by the sound looked out the castle window and when he saw the Moon, returned to its place in the sky, his eyes overflowed with grief.

"My poor second daughter!" he cried. "It was my sacrifice of her that has released the Moon! To-morrow morning I will send the slaves to gather up her bones and to bring back the leather sack into which, alas! I must then sew my youngest daughter for evil Suyettar's third son, the Nine-Headed Serpent. Ai! Ai! Ai! How sad it is to be a father!"

But on the morrow when the slaves went to the rock they found the second princess sitting there alone gazing down upon the scattered fragments of the Six-Headed Serpent.

"Here she is, safe and sound!" they reported to the King as they led the second princess into his presence, "and, marvel of marvels! on the beach below the rock lies the body of the Six-Headed Serpent torn to pieces! Its heads, O King, are so monstrous that six men with derricks could scarcely move one of them!"

"G.o.d be praised!" the King cried. "Another unknown hero has come and saved the life of my second child! Would that a third might come to-night and rescue the life of my youngest child! Alas, she is dearer to me than both the others, but I fear me that even if there be heroes who could dispatch the first two Serpents, there is never one who can touch him of the Nine Heads that holds the mighty Sun a captive!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: _"This last and mightiest battle is for me!"_]

And the poor King wept, so sure was he that nothing could save the life of his youngest child.

When Log and his companions heard of the King's grief, Log at once stood forth and said:

"This last and mightiest battle is for me!"

He opened the strong waters and drank bottle after bottle until he had emptied nine.

"Now let night come as soon as it will!" he cried. "I am ready for the Monster!"

He started forth telling his comrades he would throw back a shoe if he needed help from his dog.

So it was Log himself who slashed open the sack for the third time and released the Youngest Princess who was much more beautiful than her sisters. She fell in love with the mighty hero on sight and was so thrilled with his G.o.dlike beauty that when he put his head in her lap she hardly knew what to do although her father always declared that she scratched his head much better than either of her sisters.

They had not long to wait for soon all the Ocean was a glitter with the swirls of the ninefold Monster who was coming to sh.o.r.e with the captive Sun in his keeping.

"Await me behind the rock!" Log cried to the Princess as he leapt upon his horse and started forward.

"Oh, Log, my hero, be careful!" the Princess cried after him.

Nearer and nearer came the swirls of the nine-coiled Monster. One after another of his nine heads rose and fell as he approached, and every head sniffed more hungrily as it came nearer, and each head rumbled as it sniffed:

"Fee, fi, fo, fum!

I smell a Finn! Yum! Yum!

I'll fall upon him with a thud!

I'll pick his bones and drink his blood!

Fee, fi, fo, fum!

Yum! Yum!"

"Stop boasting, evil son of an evil mother!" Log cried. "You will have time enough to boast after you fight!"

"Fight?" roared the awful Monster. "Shall we fight, poor infant, you and I? Very well! Blow then with your sweet breath, blow out a long level platform of s.h.i.+ning gold whereon we can meet and try our strength each with the other!"

"Nay!" Log answered boldly. "Do you blow, blow with your evil breath and instead of s.h.i.+ning gold we shall have a platform of white silver."

So the Monster blew and on the silver platform that came of his breath Log met him in combat. Back and forth they raged, Log striking right and left with his mighty sword, the Serpent hitting at Log with all his nine scaly heads and belching forth fire and smoke from all his nine mouths. Log whacked off head after head until six lay gaping on the sand. But the last three he could not get.

Suddenly he pointed behind the Serpent and cried:

"Quick! Quick! The Sun! It is escaping!"

The Serpent looked around and Log whacked off a head. Now only two remained, but try as he would Log could get neither of them.

Again he tried a subterfuge.

"Your wife, O Son of Suyettar! See, yonder, they're abusing her!"

The Monster looked and Log whacked off another head. But one now remained and as usual it was the hardest of them all to get. Log felt his strength waning while the Monster seemed more nimble than ever.

"I shall have to have help," Log thought.

He threw back his shoe to his comrades and they at once loosed his dog. With the dog's help Log was soon able to dispatch the last head.